The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has started testing the emergency cell broadcast technology developed by C-DOT that will alert people at the time of natural disaster, a senior government official said on Thursday.

The sample test message with the title, 'Emergency alert: Severe', was sent to subscribers on Jio and BSNL networks on Thursday.

C-DOT Chief Executive Officer Rajkumar Upadhyay told PTI that the technology is currently available only with a foreign vendor and hence C-DOT is developing it in house.

"The cell broadcast technology is under development. It will be implemented by NDMA for sending out alert at the time of disaster directly on the mobile phone screens. It is currently being tested on Jio and BSNL network," Upadhyay said.

He said that there are various versions of the cell broadcast messages that are required to be developed to propagate through telecom network.

"The trials will be conducted at pan-India level," Upadhyay said.

(Edited by : Keshav Singh Chundawat)